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The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Eric Kripke |release=September 20, 2018 |runtime=1 hour, 45 minutes |rating=PG |available=Apple TV Google Play Amazon Video Blu-ray DVD}} is a 2018 Halloween-themed fantasy movie, based on the 1973 novel of the same name by John Bellairs, adapted by Supernatural creator/producer , and starring Jack Black and Cate Blanchett. The film follows a young boy who is sent to live with his uncle in a creaky old house. He soon learns it was previously inhabited by a nefarious entity. Universal Pictures released the film in the United States on September 21, 2018. It has been a box office success, grossing over $131 million worldwide and received mixed to moderately positive reviews from critics, who largely praised the cast but said it did not fully live up to its potential. Synopsis After his parents are killed in a car crash, ten-year-old Lewis Barnavelt moves to live with his uncle Jonathan. All he has left of his parents is a Magic 8-Ball they had given him. He meets Jonathan's neighbor and best friend Florence Zimmerman. During the night, Lewis is puzzled when he hears a ticking sound in the walls. Lewis begins exploring the house and stumbles upon Jonathan smashing a wall with an axe. Frightened, he runs away and stumbles upon multiple household objects coming to life. Jonathan confesses that he is a warlock and Florence is a witch. The house's previous owners were a sinister warlock named Isaac Izard and his equally wicked wife Selena, who had hidden a clock within the walls of the house before they died. Jonathan has been trying to find it and discover its purpose. Despite Jonathan’s discouragement, Lewis begins teaching himself magic. On his first day at his new school, Lewis meets Tarby Corrigan, who befriends him in order to win an election for class president. When Tarby wins the election he abandons Lewis. Lewis’ mother visits him in a dream. When he laments that Tarby does not see him as a friend, she suggests that he use a spell from a forbidden book to impress Tarby. On Halloween night Lewis performs a necromancy spell in a cemetery, accidentally summoning the ghost of Isaac. Lewis spies Isaac in the house of a neighbor, Mrs. Hanchett. He brings her to the house, but before he can find Jonathan, Isaac emerges. He reveals that Mrs. Hanchett is really Selena, who killed Mrs. Hanchett and took her place. It was also she who took the form of Lewis’ mother to persuade him to summon Isaac. Isaac explains that his hidden clock will turn time back so that humanity never existed. Florence, Jonathan, and Lewis run from the house. Using the Magic 8-Ball to learn the location of the clock under the boiler room, the three return, but Florence is sidelined, and the Izards transform Jonathan into a half baby-half adult. Lewis consults the Magic 8-Ball, which says "Say goodbye." He realizes he has to let go of the pain of losing his parents to harness his true power. He breaks the clock by dropping the ball into its gears, then, using his own magic, he blasts Isaac and Selena with magic he channels from the clock. They fall, de-age, and are ultimately erased from existence. Lewis returns to school with more confidence, and gets revenge on Tarby and his friends by magically bouncing a basketball on their faces, and also befriends a girl named Rosa. At the end of the day, Jonathan and Florence are shown picking up Lewis, the three of them now like a regular family. Songs *"Hey, Lolly, Lolly" - Oscar McLollie & His Honeyjumpers *"Doggone That Moon" - Johnny and Jonie *"Long Tall Sally" - Little Richard *"At Last I've Found You" - Nighthawk Swingers *"What Will You Do Next" - Prisonaores *"Must Be Fallin' in Love" - Little Anthony & The Duponts Cast External link * Category:Movies Category:Comedy Movies Category:Horror movies Category:Universal Studios Category:2018 releases Category:Films and specials based on books Category:Amblin Entertainment Category:Award winners